SEAN O'Driscoll has not shut the door on Jonathan Greening at Nottingham Forest, despite allowing the experienced midfielder to join Barnsley on loan.
The 33-year-old made 36 appearances for the Reds during the last campaign, following his move from Premier League Fulham in July 2011.
But Greening's opportunities at the City Ground have been limited this season as new signings Henri Lansbury and Adlene Guedioura have moved ahead of him in the pecking order.
The former Middlesbrough and West Brom ace has seen less than 10 minutes of first-team action this term, after coming on as a substitute late on in three games during August, but has not featured since then.
Manager O'Driscoll admitted he wanted to be fair to Greening and allowed him to pursue other opportunities.
And, yesterday, Greening agreed to join the Tykes on an emergency loan until January 2.
"You never say never in football, there's no point in me saying that he's never going to play for Forest again because Jonathan has been a super pro in my time here," said O'Driscoll.
"What we don't want to do is shut the door on anything because football is a strange game.
"We are trying to be fair to the boy. He's not played that much and it can be a bit sole destroying if you come into training everyday and you're not playing on Saturday.
"He expressed a wish, when Barnsley came in, that it would be good for him as they want to play him in a midfield role that would suit him at this stage of his career, so it seemed the fair thing to do.
"I hope he does really well and gains match fitness, so that if I want to recall him and play him then we can do that."
O'Driscoll believes all of Forest's loan rangers will benefit from being able to play first-team football.
Greening follows in the footsteps of Marcus Tudgay in joining Championship rivals Barnsley on loan in the last fortnight.
David McGoldrick, Matt Derbyshire, Ishmael Miller and Robbie Findley are also out on loan.
"To get players out on loan puts players in the shop window," added O'Driscoll. "David McGoldrick is the prime example. He had not played for so long, but he has done really well. Matt Derbyshire is the same, Marcus is the same."
